Alright a few days, my first rat Joshu was acting lethargic and I noticed some head tilt. He has NEVER sneezed as long as I have had him, and he is 6 or 7 months old.
So I called the vet and set up an appointment and noticed before the appointment he also has lice D:
Went to the vet, she gave him an invertimectic shot and gave me flea dip for the rest who as far as I can tell aren't as bad off with the lice. I have two other rats who were feeders (this was my first batch, I will prefer not to have feeders again.... ever unless they are from the same breeder as Joshu who takes EXCELLENT care of her feeders as they are also sold as pets) and they do sneeze often. But I don't see lice on them and will of course still treat them.
Vet said Joshu has a ulcer in his eye that is not healing very fast, possibly from the head tilt or he hurt his eye which caused head tilt. She also says that she can't hear his heart beat very clearly on the left side, only can hear it well on his right so some sort of thing is going on with his lungs. She says since he shows no other signs of pnemonia she thinks it could be one of three things:
Pnemonia
A tumor in his lungs
Anemia from the lice
So Joshu she gave him the shot and the lice went away. I still need to give him the dip however. She wants to wait to give him antibiotics to see if this will clear his problems up but I worry that I might loose him before that happens D: His breathing is very labored and he sleeps all the time and I've had him on my lap as often as possible to keep him seperate so he can get his rest.
So should I call her and ask for antibiotics? I know she wanted to wait, and also wanted to do a HIGHLY EXPENSIVE x-ray to be sure it wasn't a tumor but darn I would rather get him on antibiotics and do everything I can for him now than find out after the lice are gone that it was pnemonia and I should of treated him earlier.
She also said if I found the type of lice that laid eggs in the hair, we would have to shave all the rats D: I can't find anything online pertaining to shaving rats to rid them of lice. Please tell me if this happens. Also is there a type of lice that just eats skin cells therefor invertimectin doesn't do much for him?
Basically I'm wondering if my vet is on crack and if I should go back to the slightly more expensive but seemingly smarter and definately more clean vet office I took my ferrets to.
Thanks, hope that made sense.
So I called the vet and set up an appointment and noticed before the appointment he also has lice D:
Went to the vet, she gave him an invertimectic shot and gave me flea dip for the rest who as far as I can tell aren't as bad off with the lice. I have two other rats who were feeders (this was my first batch, I will prefer not to have feeders again.... ever unless they are from the same breeder as Joshu who takes EXCELLENT care of her feeders as they are also sold as pets) and they do sneeze often. But I don't see lice on them and will of course still treat them.
Vet said Joshu has a ulcer in his eye that is not healing very fast, possibly from the head tilt or he hurt his eye which caused head tilt. She also says that she can't hear his heart beat very clearly on the left side, only can hear it well on his right so some sort of thing is going on with his lungs. She says since he shows no other signs of pnemonia she thinks it could be one of three things:
Pnemonia
A tumor in his lungs
Anemia from the lice
So Joshu she gave him the shot and the lice went away. I still need to give him the dip however. She wants to wait to give him antibiotics to see if this will clear his problems up but I worry that I might loose him before that happens D: His breathing is very labored and he sleeps all the time and I've had him on my lap as often as possible to keep him seperate so he can get his rest.
So should I call her and ask for antibiotics? I know she wanted to wait, and also wanted to do a HIGHLY EXPENSIVE x-ray to be sure it wasn't a tumor but darn I would rather get him on antibiotics and do everything I can for him now than find out after the lice are gone that it was pnemonia and I should of treated him earlier.
She also said if I found the type of lice that laid eggs in the hair, we would have to shave all the rats D: I can't find anything online pertaining to shaving rats to rid them of lice. Please tell me if this happens. Also is there a type of lice that just eats skin cells therefor invertimectin doesn't do much for him?
Basically I'm wondering if my vet is on crack and if I should go back to the slightly more expensive but seemingly smarter and definately more clean vet office I took my ferrets to.
Thanks, hope that made sense.